What Does the Incarnation Mean?
Introduction
I was in Student Government in high school, which meant we had to conduct a vote on the senior class song. A majority of the student body chose the song “Higher” by the rock band Creed. However, most of the popular crowd voted for another song. By then end of the year, most of the senior class hated our senior song because they listened to the complains of the popular kids. Watch the narrative spin. If you’ve listened to our secular culture this year, you are tired of Christmas by now. But if you’ve remembered the reason for the season, then you’re ready to keep on worshipping Jesus.
The Passage
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5–11
What Does the word “Incarnation” Mean?
Incarnation means to take on flesh. God is eternal but man is only alive for a little while. God is all powerful, but a man’s back gives out if he takes out the trash. God is ever present, but man has to get into a car and drive for 6 hours to see family. God is all knowing, but man has to be taught what the state capital is and be reminded where his keys are. When we say we believe in the incarnation, we believe God the Son became Jesus the man. Augustine in sermon 191 said this:
“The maker of man, he was made man, so that the director of the stars might be a babe at the breast; that bread might be hungry, and the fountain thirsty; that the light might sleep, and the way be weary from a journey; that the truth might be accused by false witnesses, and the judge of the living and the dead be judged by a mortal judge; that justice might be convicted by the unjust, and discipline be scourged with whips; that the cluster of grapes might be crowned with thorns, and the foundation be hung up on a tree; that strength might grow weak, eternal health [might] be wounded, life [might] die.”
What the Incarnation Means
God Recognizes and Dignifies Humanity. In all other religions, the deity either denigrates humanity or indulges humanity. In Buddhism, the point is to become nothing through meditation. Humanity is diminished. Islam, on the other hand, rewards martyrs for Allah with a harem. Think also of the Greek pantheon who acted like Hugh Hefner.
The true faith, our faith, recognizes that God does something surprising. He becomes a human forever. In the person of Christ, both deity and humanity exist fully. God is not indifferent to us, He is one of us.
Jesus has authority over what we do with our bodies because He’s our creator. He also has authority over what we do with our bodies because He’s our sympathizer. When He commands us not to anxious or worry, He knows hunger, suffering, and loss like we do. But He also models for us how to endure suffering with joy (Heb 12:2). Jesus endured the pain of crucifixion for our salvation. So, when He condemns men and women going under the knife to look like another sex, He says so with the authority of our Lord and the sympathy of our savior. You are not a cosmic accident. You are made in the image of the one true God.
Jesus is Our Kinsman Redeemer. In the OT, a relative could restore your lost property or purchase your freedom from slavery (Lev 27:9-25; 25:47-55). So, if you lost your house with a bad investment deal and were unable to buy it back, a kinsman could buy the house and give it back to you. He would redeem your house. In Genesis 1, God gave humanity the task of taking over the world (Gen 1:28) and spreading the Garden of Eden over the entire earth (Gen 2:15). But after Adam sinned, the earth no longer recognizes humanity as its owner (Gen 3:18). The ground rebels against us.
When God the Son became Jesus of Nazareth, He became our kinsman. When He died on the cross, He purchased our freedom (Mark 10:45). When He ascended into Heaven, He shared the world that He now owns (Matthew 28:18-20).
Conclusion
What this means is that the story of Christmas should be the story that dictates our entire life. If we grow tired of the Christmas story, then it proves we were likely celebrating sentimentality last week, not the birth of the eternal God. You’ve been given a part in a story where the supernatural puts on shoes one foot at a time. Slow down. Look at the world God made. Look at your place in it. And look to Christ who gave you your part to play.